Another Weekend Gone By

We took our goats for a walk.

If you read this blog, you know that last week was a bit crazy for us. I am happy to report that we had a much better weekend this past weekend. However, it still was not exactly what most people would call normal.

At first, Wetherby was not overly fond of this activity.

Tulip seemed to have fun

Wetherby enjoyed exploring the back yard.

Tulip got a little thirsty

The deck was lots of fun!

I got attacked. At least I didn't get bit though!

My view of the goat attack

Goat grooming

The girls decided it was warm enough for a swim in the pool

Scary kitty!

Marking the fresh cement

Making her mark, too

Pokin' a Goat

So last week when our goat, Wetherby, was very sick, we needed to give him shots twice a day. While my husband and I did not look forward to these times, our girls thought it was great fun to watch us give him shots. They were so thrilled with watching this that they made up a song we will call, "Let's Poke a Goat!". I, of course, shot a video of one of their concerts.

Never Ask

If there is one thing we should have learned from living on our faux farm, it is to never ask, "What next?". Last weekend, we were already feeling a little different from other families as we drove our Gator to the neighbors' horse show, picked up giant wooden spools and pallets, and hauled straw into our barn.

At that point, we didn't ask what was next but when we found a giant, freshly-dug hole near our play barn, we made the mistake of wondering that. Soon, we found out. We still aren't sure what made the hole but the only animal activity we have noticed by it has been from coyote. (I am still really hoping we don't have a coyote living a couple hundred yards from our house and just a couple hundred feet from our goats and chickens). We thought that a possible coyote den in our yard was crazy enough but alas, not it was not.

The night we got proof of coyote activity via our game cam, a mouse ran across our living room. My husband and I teamed up and were finally able to catch it in a garbage can, after it tried to run up my arm once!

That is not all either. We suspect our cat of being pregnant. We were planning on letting her have a
litter of kittens so we could have more than two cats but when we added kitten Flint to the mix, we were going to get her fixed. However, we did not get that done in time and she found a boyfriend. Now she is getting nice and plump. I am still hoping she is just eating very well.

Not done yet. Wetherby came down with a bad case of diarrhea. Another call to the vet and they set us up with some pills to give him. So now instead of giving him shots, we need to shove a pill down his throat. Unfortunately, while I was trying to pry his mouth open one time and attempting to put the pill in, he chomped down on my finger. Doubly unfortunate was the fact that my finger was too far back so it was at the spot where he has both top and bottom teeth. Oh that hurt! And it bled! By the time I made it back to the house, blood was running down my arm and dripping into my other hand. Of course the door was locked so I had to punch in the garage door code so I could get in to wash the wound and stop the bleeding. Even having worked in a zoo, this was the worst animal bite I have ever received. I also made a call to my doctor (yeah, I am pretty sure they think I'm crazy calling about being bit by a GOAT) and now I have to get a tetanus shot. Good times.

So our weekend was a bit crazy and random. Even after being bit, I helped Jon unload hay into our barn in 94 degree heat, with the heat indices well into the hundreds. I wasn't as helpful as I would have liked to be but I blamed that on the throbbing pain in my finger! The girls enjoyed playing on the hay bales and are thrilled with their new hay "castle", as they like to call it!

Hole Update

The camera didn't catch any critters at the hole last night. It obviously failed since I found fresh tracks around the hole. I am thinking we need to move the camera closer so it will catch the critter in action. Oh yeah, you might be wondering what sort of tracks were around the hole. Coyote.

 So we have had a coyote at the hole two nights in a row and that has been the only sign of wildlife there so far. Not all that reassuring to me though I am still holding out hope that it is just hunting. After all, I couldn't really tell if the tracks went in the hole. I could just see them clearly surrounding the hole.

Part of the Hole Story

Earlier this week we noticed a giant hole that appeared in our yard. It is about 8 inches in diameter and looks freshly dug up. We know it was fresh because it is near our compost pile and the last time we dumped stuff there (just last weekend), the hole did not exist. And you really cannot miss this hole!

Being ever so slightly curious, we set up a game cam to catch our new farm resident. A couple nights passed and nothing showed up. Turns out we were using a bad card in the camera. It had a little trip through the wash so it wouldn't gather pictures anymore. So we put a new card in and this is what we found:

Coyote!

Now, this is just the first time we got a picture of a coyote here so maybe it is just checking out whatever actually lives in the hole. It seems like a strange time for a coyote to be digging a den but I guess we will just keep an eye on things and see what happens. Did I mention that this giant hole (and possible coyote den) is just a couple hundred yards from our house, goat pen, and chicken coop? If it is just a groundhog, that doesn't matter then. I just really hope this canine was just hunting and not setting up a home. Unfortunately, both pictures were taken about three hours apart so I'm worried that means it was leaving and coming back to its new "digs". (Ha! Sorry, I just had to get a bad pun in somewhere!)

The Things We Do for Our Kids

We did a lot of things for our kids this past week. Mostly for our furry goat kids. We had to take our male goat kid to the vet twice, we gave him shots twice a day for three days, and force-fed him water. All our efforts paid off and we ended up saving his life so hurray! Then we found some free wooden pallets and spools that we took our trailer across town to retrieve. Jon says this was the weirdest free stuff he has ever hauled (or collected for that matter). But the pallets are important to help keep our hay from getting moldy. And the spools? Well, they make great toys for human and goat kids alike!

We got a few strange looks hauling this through town!

Covering up the holes

Goat Savers

This has been a rough week for us. Our male goat, Wetherby, got very sick. He was blind, had trouble walking and standing, and wouldn't eat or drink. We took him to the vet (the closest vet that treats goats was about 40 minutes away) where they discovered he had a fever and gave him a shot of anti-biotics and steroids. At first he seemed to be doing better but the next morning, additional symptoms began: walking around in circles, stiff legs, muscle spasms, and collapsing on the ground.

I did a bit of research and came up with the idea that he might have goat polio. Goat polio is basically a thiamine deficiency that is usually fatal within 24-72 hours without treatment. This was day two of symptoms so we again took him to the vet where he got vitamin B shots and more steroids. We were given several more doses of vitamin B to administer over the next few days. This was basically his last hope for survival since we didn't know of anything else that could cause such symptoms.

Fortunately, he responded well to treatment and has been doing so much better. He is walking more normally, though I suspect his sight is still a bit fuzzy since he tends to walk very carefully. And he is eating and drinking again!

The ironic thing about this whole situation is that we held a "New Kids on the Block" (or "Meet the Goats") party on the day he took a turn for the worse. He was doing better the night before so we didn't cancel it but found him the next morning and decided we needed to act immediately to save him. So those at the party were only able to meet one of our goats but it sounds like they had fun anyway. I am very grateful for the friends who stayed to watch my girls while I ran the goat to the vet. It saved his life!